Walmart opened its 100th company-owned EV fast-charging site this week. A newer competitor, Ionna, launched a full year after Walmart started building and already has more locations.
Walmart's charging network now spans 20 states, with most sites offering 8 to 16 stalls and chargers capable of delivering up to 400 kW. The retailer wants thousands of Walmart and Sam's Club locations equipped by 2030, leveraging a footprint that puts a store within 10 miles of roughly 90% of Americans.
📊 The Two Networks, Side by Side
Walmart (own network) | Ionna | |
|---|---|---|
Launched | April 2025 | 2025 |
Locations today | 100 | 120+ |
Backing | Self-funded, in-house | 8 founding automakers |
Recent milestone | Just reached 100 sites | Topped Tesla Supercharger satisfaction ratings |
Walmart isn't even the fastest-growing charging option at Walmart locations. More Walmart stores currently host Volkswagen's Electrify America network than Walmart's own branded chargers.
The Real Fit Isn't Speed. It's Timing.
Jamie's read cuts to the actual strategic logic: the average EV charge session runs 20 to 30 minutes, and that's almost exactly how long the average shopping trip at a grocery store or big-box retailer takes. That's not a coincidence worth ignoring. Charging isn't competing with dedicated charging stations on convenience, it's competing on whether a customer was already going to be there anyway.
Jamie's own Wegmans story is worth sitting with too: two fast chargers installed out front, likely a $300,000-$400,000 investment, quietly removed sometime later. Not every retailer's charging bet has paid off, and infrastructure costs are real enough that this isn't guaranteed to work everywhere it's tried.
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What Actually Might Win Here
Paul's take: Walmart's advantage isn't speed or stall count, it's ubiquity. "I know I can charge at a Walmart" solves range anxiety more effectively than a technically faster network a driver has to think hard to locate. Familiarity is doing more work here than kilowatts.
Charging is becoming a loyalty play as much as an infrastructure play.
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App-based charging and Walmart+ discounts tie EV charging directly into Walmart's existing loyalty ecosystem, not a separate business, a new reason to open an app customers already have installed. Whether that's enough to out-scale a purpose-built network like Ionna is the open question. Whether it's enough to keep a driver coming back to Walmart specifically probably isn't.
